Motto Lux (Latin) Established April 18, 1853 Undergraduate tuition and fees 33,200 USD (2015) Mascot Big Red the Fighting Scot Phone +1 309-457-2345 | Motto in English Light President Clarence Wyatt Acceptance rate 69.1% (2014) Endowment 99.2 million USD Colors White, Red | |
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Type Private liberal arts college Affiliation Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Address 700 E Broadway, Monmouth, IL 61462, USA Notable alumni James Stockdale, Alex Tanney, Helen Wagner, Joe Tait, Jug Earp Similar Monmouth University, Knox College, Augustana College, Millikin University, Cornell College Profiles | ||
Monmouth College is a four-year coeducational private liberal arts college located in Monmouth, Illinois, United States. Monmouth is a selective, exclusively undergraduate four-year institution that enrolls approximately 1,300 students from 35 countries. Students choose courses from 35 major programs, 30 minors and 16 pre-professional programs in a core curriculum that features strong majors and an integrative learning course sequence.
Contents
- Monmouth college athletics facility tour
- History
- Affiliations
- Presidents
- Cost of attendance and financial aid
- Students
- Student profile
- Faculty profile
- Mens fraternities
- Womens fraternities
- Coeducational fraternities
- Student groups
- Traditions
- Safety
- Athletics
- Mens varsity teams
- Womens varsity teams
- Club and intramural athletics
- Music
- Rankings
- Notable alumni
- References
Monmouth college athletics facility tour
History
Monmouth College was founded on April 18, 1853, by the Second Presbytery of Illinois, a frontier arm of the Associate Reformed (Presbyterian) Church. The college celebrates this date as "Scholars Day", cancelling classes for a day of celebration and an honors convocation. Founded as "Monmouth Academy," the school became Monmouth College after receiving a charter from the state legislature on September 3, 1856. The college remains affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, a consortium of small, private liberal arts colleges. The college's motto "Lux" ("Light") appears on its seal.
The first president, David Wallace built two mission churches in Massachusetts before assuming the Monmouth presidency.
Founded on the eve of the American Civil War, the college immediately faced a serious crisis. The college's campus was still under construction while virtually the entire male student body left for military service. Two hundred and thirty-two students, faculty members, and trustees served in the Civil War. A quarter of them were wounded and one in eight was killed. Two were awarded the Medal of Honor, and Abner C. Harding, a college trustee who raised a regiment composed largely of MC students, was commissioned a brigadier general for his leadership in the defense of Fort Donelson in 1863. President Wallace, believing that the college "must educate, whether there be peace or war," kept classes in session for what was then a primarily female student body.
Monmouth was founded as a coeducational college where women and men had equal access to courses. When veterans returning to the college decided to form fraternities, a group of women was determined not to be outdone, and in 1867 established the first fraternity for women, known today as Pi Beta Phi. Three years later, another well-known women’s fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma, was founded at Monmouth.
Monmouth College had gained national stature by 1911 as shown by its US government classification where 59 colleges and universities ranked higher and 244 ranked lower (out of a total of 345 top colleges).
World War II posed a crisis to the institution similar to that of the Civil War, as male students began enlisting in the service within a month of Pearl Harbor, and soon only a handful remained on campus. Through an arrangement with the Navy Department, the college survived by becoming a U.S. Naval Flight Preparatory School, and later offered a V-5 Navy Academic Refresher Unit program for officers. Courses were taught by Monmouth’s liberal arts faculty. The Navy later adopted portions of Monmouth's curriculum for training programs nationwide. More than 2,000 Navy men went through Monmouth College, a number of whom would re-enroll at the college after the war funded by the G.I. Bill.
Monmouth’s chemistry department gained national prominence in the 1950s when longtime professor William S. Haldeman was recognized with a major award by the American Chemical Society. The Steelman Report on Manpower for Research noted that Monmouth and four other small colleges—Hope, Juniata, St. Olaf and Oberlin—together had "produced more candidates for the doctor's degree in chemistry than Johns Hopkins, Fordham, Columbia, Tulane and Syracuse Universities combined."
Beginning in the 1960s, a secularization movement changed the nature of the college. Concurrent with dwindling financial support from the United Presbyterian Church, the college removed the Church Synod’s role in nominating and confirming trustees, thus opening the door for the cultivation of new trustees with stronger business acumen and financial resources than those during the college’s earlier days. The college did otherwise maintain its covenant relationship with the Church.
During the Vietnam War, the military draft (and the ability to avoid the draft by enrolling in college) contributed to increases in college attendance throughout the US. Attendance at the college increased but then fell when the draft ended in the 1970s causing financial strain not unlike the losing of students to the Civil War had done in the then distant past.
In 1983, a donation from an alumnus committed $5 million to the endowment and launched a $15 million capital campaign, the largest gift in college history to that point.
During the 1990s, enrollment began a steady increase that would see it more than double over the next two decades, from less than 600 in 1993 to 1,379 in 2009. The endowment also grew substantially, from $23.6 million in 1993 to $87.2 million in 2013. Between 2002 and 2013, more than $120 million was invested in new construction and renovations to the campus.
Affiliations
Monmouth is a founding member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and a member of the Annapolis Group of independent liberal arts colleges. Monmouth also continues its relationship with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), although courses in religion are no longer required, and is an active member of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, of which President Mauri Ditzler served as chair in 2011–2012. Chemistry at Monmouth is an approved baccalaureate program by the American Chemical Society.
Presidents
Cost of attendance and financial aid
Monmouth's comprehensive tuition, room, and board fees for the 2015–16 academic year is $42,450. Once miscellaneous personal expenses are factored in the total cost to attend for the 2015–16 academic year is approximately $45,400.
Despite its cost of attendance shown above, Monmouth College provides scholarships or financial aid to over 98% of students. The average financial aid package award for 2014–15 was $30,090 (of which $4,325 were loans and work study); the average net price of attendance was $10,760. This average is for all freshmen students including those with no financial need.
Merit scholarships are automatically offered upon the completion of application to the college. Competitive scholarships in the areas of fine arts, sustainability, Presbyterian, and Latin are determined by an application process in January or February annually. Need based financial aid is determined by the student filing the FAFSA federal form. These students are encouraged to file this form in January although later filing is accepted. The college maintains a staff of experts who aid students and parents in working through these processes in order to build the best possible financial package. Outside scholarships are accepted with no reduction in Monmouth College aid or scholarships.
Students
Students represent about 30 states and about 35 countries. Ninety-three percent of students live on campus in dormitories, theme houses, Greek housing, or apartment buildings.
Student profile
Faculty profile
Men's fraternities
Women's fraternities
Coeducational fraternities
Student groups
There are over 120 student groups that pursue various interests through student-lead organizations funded by the student government or the college, including cultural, religious, publications, professional, honors, fine and performing arts, political advocacy, service groups, housing, and athletic organizations.
The honor societies at Monmouth College are:
Traditions
The college’s Scottish heritage is celebrated by its bagpipes and drums band that have won national titles in recent years.
The freshmen walkout is an autumn event that acquaints all the students with the town.
Scholars day held in conjunction with founders day celebrates academic achievements with a wide variety of events.
The college owns a restored civil war cannon which announces touchdowns for the Fighting Scots at homecoming football games.
Safety
Monmouth College’s safety record rates highly among American Colleges and Universities. The college is located in a residential neighborhood of Victorian homes, removing it from the safety concerns of many urban campuses. Additionally, the college provides security patrols, an emergency broadcasting system and emergency text messaging system, plus extensive security lighting and the use of some security cameras.
Fire safety is highly rated by Princeton Review. All dormitories are equipped with sprinkler systems and smoke detectors.
Athletics
Monmouth College is a member of the Midwest Conference and the NCAA Division III. The college offers eleven varsity sports for men and eleven for women. The college has won the Midwest Conference men's all-sports trophy each of the last two years. The college also offers intramural sports.
The athletic teams' nickname, Fighting Scots, was coined in 1928 to reflect the Scotch-Irish heritage of the college's founders. "Fighting Scots" is a registered trademark of Monmouth College.
The Monmouth College men's track and field team placed third in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 26, 2007. It was the first national team trophy that a Monmouth College sports team has won. The following year, Monmouth's men's track and field team took second place in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships. Monmouth's track program has produced nine individual national champions, the most recent of which was James Wilson, who won the NCAA Division III indoor long jump national title in 2013.
In 2014, the college's sports teams and student-athletes won awards for academic achievement including national academic honors from seven different organizations. Volleyball and Men's Golf earned team academic accolades from their respective national coaches' organizations for their high team GPA. Eleven team members also earned individual national honors for their academic excellence including one student who became Monmouth's first winner of the NCAA's Elite 89 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA participating in one of the NCAA's 89 sponsored championships. Four softball players, three track student-athletes, two women's golfers and a men's tennis player also received national academic honors for the 2013–14 academic year.
Monmouth began its college football rivalry with Knox College in Galesburg in 1888, making it the sixth oldest college football rivalry in the country. The two schools play annually for the Bronze Turkey trophy in November (originally on Thanksgiving). ESPN's Jeff Merron has classified the trophy as the fifth most unusual in college football. The Bronze Turkey has been stolen several times and was at one time buried under the old MC indoor track for five years. Monmouth leads the series with 56 wins, 50 losses and 10 ties.
The Monmouth College football team has appeared in the NCAA Division III Playoffs in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011. Monmouth's recent varsity football alumni include two former quarterbacks who went on to the National Football League. Through 2013, Alex Tanney '11 has played for Kansas City, Dallas and Cleveland and Tampa. Mitch Tanney '06 is director of analytics for the Chicago Bears.
Varsity Water polo for both men and women was added in 2013. The men's water polo team won the CWPA Division III Club National Championship in 2012.
Varsity Lacrosse will be added in 2016.
Monmouth College was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1921–1937.
Men's varsity teams
Women's varsity teams
Club and intramural athletics
Monmouth College fields over twenty club athletic teams for men and women spanning about a dozen indoor and outdoor sports. These include sand volleyball, ultimate frisbee, badminton, floor hockey, wrestling and ping pong in addition to the more traditional flag football, basketball, and softball. Some teams are co-ed.
Music
In the Monmouth College music department, majors and non-majors alike have the opportunity to perform in ensembles including Chorales, male and female a capella, Marching Band, concert bands and an orchestra. The college also has a gospel choir and provides opportunities for musical theater. The Chorale has toured extensively both nationally, visiting nearly half the states in the US, and internationally, including a recent trip to Scotland and a tour of Spain in spring, 2012. In 2013 the group performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
All classes, ensembles, and lessons are taught by members of the faculty, rather than by teaching assistants. The faculty are experts in their respective fields, as well as active performers.
The Music Department subsidizes some vocal ensembles.
The warm acoustics of the Kasch Performance Hall, a 600-seat concert hall, were enhanced in 2003 with a $3 million restoration. Faculty offices, most lessons and classes, practice rooms, and a new piano lab are located in nearby Austin Hall.
Rankings
Monmouth College is one of 249 National Liberal Arts Colleges (out of 2,968 four-year U.S. colleges) classified by U.S. News & World Report and is included in Tier 1 of its Best Colleges Rankings.
Parchment Student Choice Rankings, which uses a methodology "based on student enrollment decisions," ranks Monmouth 93rd out of the top 722 four-year colleges in the United States.
Money magazine ranked Monmouth 28th out of 736 "Best Colleges" in the Most Affordable Private Colleges category.
The college provides programming to assist its students in achieving more after graduation and its efforts in this area have been recognized by Washington Monthly, which ranks Monmouth as 38 (out of 248 top four-year institutions) in Social Mobility which includes Predicted Versus Actual Graduation Rate achievement of its graduates.
The Princeton Review named Monmouth College a "Best in the Midwest" in its 2015 Best Colleges survey. Monmouth's highest ratings came in the areas of fire safety, financial aid, Interesting Professors and Accessibility of Professors.
The college is ranked in the top 17% (154) of 925 colleges and universities in Forbes College Financial Grades rankings of financial fitness. This ranking is based on balance sheet health, operational soundness, admissions yield, freshmen receiving institutional grants, and instructional expenses per student.
Monmouth was named to the 2013 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
Notable alumni
There are about 12,600 living alumni, of which more than 20% make a gift to Monmouth each year.